How do you pronounce her name? I think it's supposed to be "Jon" as in "John," but more and more the talking ratfaces are pronouncing it almost like "Jean," Frog for "John." Annoying, but not nearly as much as when I hear "negotiation" pronounced "nego-cee-ation." That bugs me to the point of writing threatening letters (don't worry, I always sign other people's names).
Bonus question: Why doesn't anybody in the U.S. pronounce "aunt" as "Ant" anymore, but rather, "Ahnt"? Is it reverse snobbery? Does "Ant" sound too WASPy?
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Academics: Manning the front lines of freedom!
Not really, of course, but Pirate Ballerina, in his brave (i.e., hopeless) effort to counter Teachers for a Democratic Society's (blech) petition to "Unfire Ward Churchill," has been gathering signatures on his own petition to (natch) "Fire Ward Churchill" at an amazing rate. It's taken weeks for TDS to gather its paltry 464 signatures, but in less than one week, PB has gathered two (count 'em!), two (2) signatures.
As Herman Wouk noted in a different context, the old sagas would halt to list the names of men so brave. This blog will follow that tradition. The academics are:
Professor Thomas D. Russell (Sturm College of Law, University of Denver)
Francis Rexford Cooley, Lecturer-in-General Studies (History), Paier College of Art.
Gentlemen! You are, uh, gentlemen, and scholars.
As Herman Wouk noted in a different context, the old sagas would halt to list the names of men so brave. This blog will follow that tradition. The academics are:
Gentlemen! You are, uh, gentlemen, and scholars.
Non-Jon
I'm sick of sickos. Let's have a song!
United forever in friendship and labor,
Our mighty republics will ever endure!
The great Soviet Union will live through the ages,
The dream of the people, their fortress secure!
Long live our Soviet motherland,
Built by the people's mighty hand.
Long live her people united and free!
Strong in our friendship tried by fire,
Long may our crimson flag inspire,
Shining in glory for all men to see!
Everybody!
Through days dark and stormy while great Lenin led us
Our eyes saw the bright sun of freedom above!
And Stalin our leader, with faith in the people,
inspired us to build on the land that we love!
[chorus]
We fought for the future, destroyed the invader,
And brought to our homeland the laurels of fame!
Our glory will live in the memory of nations,
And all generations will honor their names!
[repeat until told to stop]
Update: BIFF?
Update II: Yes, I just recently posted the Soviet National Anthem, but it's worth regular rehearing, don't you think? Don't you?
United forever in friendship and labor,
Our mighty republics will ever endure!
The great Soviet Union will live through the ages,
The dream of the people, their fortress secure!
Long live our Soviet motherland,
Built by the people's mighty hand.
Long live her people united and free!
Strong in our friendship tried by fire,
Long may our crimson flag inspire,
Shining in glory for all men to see!
Everybody!
Through days dark and stormy while great Lenin led us
Our eyes saw the bright sun of freedom above!
And Stalin our leader, with faith in the people,
inspired us to build on the land that we love!
[chorus]
We fought for the future, destroyed the invader,
And brought to our homeland the laurels of fame!
Our glory will live in the memory of nations,
And all generations will honor their names!
[repeat until told to stop]
Update: BIFF?
Update II: Yes, I just recently posted the Soviet National Anthem, but it's worth regular rehearing, don't you think? Don't you?
Early JonBenet
Why can't Peter Boyles pronounce Lou Smit's name correctly? It's not "Schmitt." He also says "normenclature" instead of "nomenclature."
Oh, news. The Rocky: Handwriting expert points finger at Karr:
The Boulder Daily Camera: Family: Karr was at '96 Christmas in Ga.":
Update: Via Boyles, ABC says that when Karr was a baby his mother tried to burn him alive:
Update II: The Post also has the home video of John Mark Karr and his mullet.
Update III: I should be listening to Caplis and Silverman, but somehow can't bring myself to turn on the radio.
Update IV: Dan Caplis just called Rita Cosby "the superb MSNBC correspondent." Excuse me while I take the gaspipe. Now he's interviewing her. She says Karr's family has gone through "hundreds" of holiday pictures and are "surprised" and "baffled" not to have found one that includes Karr-- yet.
Update V: Silverman, after recounting the Karr's-mom-tried-to-fry-him story: "That might screw you up."
Update VI: Yurk. ABC has transcripts of Wendy Hutchens' tapes of John Mark Karr (stick an "alleged" in there somewhere): "I've kissed little girls on the mouth . . ."
Oh, news. The Rocky: Handwriting expert points finger at Karr:
A well-known national handwriting expert said Monday he is 99.9 percent certain John Mark Karr wrote the ransom note found near the scene of JonBenet Ramsey's murder.Of course,
"Most guys are riding the fence," said Curt Baggett, the Texas-based co-founder of the School of Forensic Document Examination. "But there are at least a dozen traits that match up perfectly, when comparing a (high school) yearbook signed by Karr and the ransom note."
Boyles also calls the Boulder DA Mary "Cagney and" Lacy. He isn't budging an inch on his belief that the Ramseys did it.Other experts are less certain than Baggett about the note's origin, and they expect competing testimony should the case ever go to trial . . . .
One person who could find himself on the other side from the Baggetts and Lehew is Honolulu document examiner Reed Hayes, author of a textbook on forensic handwriting analysis.
"I do see a few similarities between the writing in the yearbook and the so-called ransom note, but not enough that I would identify him as the writer. . . ."
Ronald Morris, a Virginia-based expert who spent 23 years as a document examiner with the Secret Service, said everyone is getting ahead of themselves. He said making conclusions without seeing the actual document is "absolute BS."He said faxes or newspaper reproductions are two-dimensional, and that actual documents are in 3-D - meaning the amount of pressure a person applies to the pen and the actual dimensions of the lettering are critical in forming an opinion.
The Boulder Daily Camera: Family: Karr was at '96 Christmas in Ga.":
The father and brothers of John Mark Karr, the man arrested on suspicion of killing JonBenet Ramsey in Colorado the day after Christmas a decade ago, do not recall him ever missing Christmas dinner in Atlanta or traveling to Colorado after the holiday, a lawyer for the family said Monday.The photo "indicated"?
Gary Harris said that the suspect's father, Wexford Karr, found a photograph indicating that his son was part of the family's 1996 Christmas gathering, the day before the child beauty queen was found strangled in her home in Boulder.
The Christmas Day photograph does not include John Karr but shows his three sons, who, Harris said, never attended the holiday dinner without their parents. Although the photo is undated, the lawyer said the family is certain it was taken in 1996, because an infant pictured in it, Karr's nephew, was 2 weeks old that Christmas.Throw it into the mix.
Update: Via Boyles, ABC says that when Karr was a baby his mother tried to burn him alive:
The mother of the suspect in JonBenet Ramsey's murder tried to kill him when he was only a baby, a family friend told ABC News.Update (11:05 MDT): Karr waived extradition and will be headed to Boulder, perhaps today. Here's the Post's story.
John Karr's mother, Patricia Elaine Adcock "made a big round donut [of kindling] and put him in the middle of it," said George McCrary, 76, who said he has known Karr's father, Wexford Karr, for 40 years.
"She just boxed the little baby in and tried to light it," McCrary said. John's older brother Michael "came running in just before she got the flame to the flammable material," McCrary added.
Adcock was later committed to a mental institution . . . .
Update II: The Post also has the home video of John Mark Karr and his mullet.
Update III: I should be listening to Caplis and Silverman, but somehow can't bring myself to turn on the radio.
Update IV: Dan Caplis just called Rita Cosby "the superb MSNBC correspondent." Excuse me while I take the gaspipe. Now he's interviewing her. She says Karr's family has gone through "hundreds" of holiday pictures and are "surprised" and "baffled" not to have found one that includes Karr-- yet.
Update V: Silverman, after recounting the Karr's-mom-tried-to-fry-him story: "That might screw you up."
Update VI: Yurk. ABC has transcripts of Wendy Hutchens' tapes of John Mark Karr (stick an "alleged" in there somewhere): "I've kissed little girls on the mouth . . ."
Monday, August 21, 2006
"Snake on a plane"
is the title of Countdown's top story, and it's not about the movie. They also have Karr's 1992 Mullet Movie, which I can't seem to find on the internet.
Update: It would appear that they stole it from the New York Post.
Update: It would appear that they stole it from the New York Post.
Afternoon JonBenet
It's Caplis and Silverman time! (Blech.) Yes, time for KHOW's matchless lawyer duo, and three endless hours of JonBenet! Let's do it!
Caplis still hates Mary Lacy, but simply can't believe that everyone around her is an utter idiot--they must have something.
Now they're talking about Wendy Hutchens, the woman who recorded a person she says is John Mark Karr confessing to the killing in 2001. They're going to have her on. [Update: I think I misheard that. Silverman just said that the reason the cops discounted Hutchens' story was that she was "kind of a jailbird type" who knew Richard Allen Davis, the murderer of Polly Klaas. Caplis reads a transcript that does not sound like Karr is confessing. They do not say Hutchens will be on.]
Caplis reads some piece saying that it might take six weeks to get Karr to Colorado. Silverman says it'll be easy and quick.
They play a lame comedy piece, Lives of the Rich and Famous, with John Mark Karr beating Mary Lacy with some paté or something.
In a fascinating article, the Rocky notes that Karr's e-mail address was the date of JonBenet's death. Man.
They have on a former prosecutor (didn't catch his name) who knows Lacy and also thinks she must have her ducks in a row. Caplis lets fly another anti-Lacy soliloquy. He just can't get by her treatment of the CU football players in the rape case (not indicting them but, according to him, saying they were guilty anyway).
You can listen to Caplis and Silverman all on your own, you know. They're lousy, but they're Colorado lawyers and they get some knowledgeable people.
For example, Stephen Singular is on next.
Caplis asks for his take on Karr--this is a guy with a history of child molestation, was in the online child sex game in 1996 . . . Law enforcement was not up to speed on internet crime back then . . . they're getting totally sidetracked. Do you think he did it, Singular?
Damn, Silverman just blabs and blabs. Singular says the cops (in the original investigation) told him to investigate the computer kiddie-porn angle himself if he wanted to--not good . . . . Saved By The Cross interpretation of S.B.T.C. has been out there for years . . . . We have not been shown the whole (of JonBenet's) body. There may be something there only a very few people know . . . On the other hand, the eejits never interviewed Karr's wife (as Caz pointed out in comments to the previous post). But wouldn't she, well her lawyer (Silverman asks), have been screaming to the high heavens if the cops were going the wrong way and smearing the father of her children--however much she hates him? Where's the proof?
Singular: Some among the people around JonBenet and the beauty pageant circuit did it. He's talked to pageant moms who told him that "unsavory characters," pedophiles in fact, gravitated naturally to that milieu, and that they "had to get rid of them." The Ramseys may or may not have been guilty, or only of exposing her to that world.
Silverman: Pedophiles roaming in a pack?
Singular: Whether Karr's guilty or not you're opening the door for the first time on the natural milieu of these criminals . . . The investigation in this realm has been completely driven by civilians. . . [man, I gotta get better at typing].
Caplis: What's your theory?
S: Let's theorize she was taken out of the house for say, a photo shoot, video event, etc. What I'd already seen on the internet was just a short step to really hurting a child.
So let's say this happened to JonBenet, and something went wrong. The crime scene that we have assumed to be the crime scene all along may not be the only crime scene. . . There is a natural criminal realm to investigate . . .
Caller: I was a pageant participant. It was wonderful. Not to say that it doesn't draw sickos . . .
S: Patsy was disturbed by some of the photos a Denver photog. took of JB (semi-naked, allegedly). For pity's sake, the same photographer took the pictures at Silverman's wedding. Denver's a small (cow) town.
S: The reason I wrote the book is that the Ramseys put their child in a place where she was exposed to these types of people.
Caller: After many years of therapy I got over being put on display that way . . . Thrown into a situation where I was expected to act much older than my age . . .
Good physical evidence for the intruder theory?
S: I don't think it's that strong. Many more possibilities that it's more complicated than just the Ramseys, or just an intruder. . .
Caplis at the end of the hour: Even if it was a brilliant move, isn't there something fundamentally wrong with wining and dining the little bugger [he didn't say bugger]?
Me: I don't like Singular's theory much. It smacks of the 80s-90s hysteria over stories of child-sacrificing cults, not a single one of which turned out to be true (though scores of people went to jail).
They've played that unfunny tape of "Karr" and "Lacy" on the plane three times in an hour.
Silverman finds a case that would seem to disqualify anything Karr said on the plane because the DA's cops got him intoxicated.
Bob Grant, "legendary" Adams County prosecutor and DU law professor: this wining and dining doesn't make any sense to me. Should at least have knocked the champagne glass out of his hand.
C: Do you think they've got the right guy?
BG: Ain't gonna say without the DNA!
Back and forth on the circumstances of Lacy moving when she did.
It's all if, if, if. DNA, DNA, DNA.
Break. I thought I might be able to do the whole three hours, but I can't. It's time to attend to other parts of my sad, suddenly monomaniacal life. I mean, my God, I can hardly picture the faces of my children anymore.
Update (via the Drunkawife): We have no children.
Caplis still hates Mary Lacy, but simply can't believe that everyone around her is an utter idiot--they must have something.
Now they're talking about Wendy Hutchens, the woman who recorded a person she says is John Mark Karr confessing to the killing in 2001. They're going to have her on. [Update: I think I misheard that. Silverman just said that the reason the cops discounted Hutchens' story was that she was "kind of a jailbird type" who knew Richard Allen Davis, the murderer of Polly Klaas. Caplis reads a transcript that does not sound like Karr is confessing. They do not say Hutchens will be on.]
Caplis reads some piece saying that it might take six weeks to get Karr to Colorado. Silverman says it'll be easy and quick.
They play a lame comedy piece, Lives of the Rich and Famous, with John Mark Karr beating Mary Lacy with some paté or something.
In a fascinating article, the Rocky notes that Karr's e-mail address was the date of JonBenet's death. Man.
They have on a former prosecutor (didn't catch his name) who knows Lacy and also thinks she must have her ducks in a row. Caplis lets fly another anti-Lacy soliloquy. He just can't get by her treatment of the CU football players in the rape case (not indicting them but, according to him, saying they were guilty anyway).
You can listen to Caplis and Silverman all on your own, you know. They're lousy, but they're Colorado lawyers and they get some knowledgeable people.
For example, Stephen Singular is on next.
Caplis asks for his take on Karr--this is a guy with a history of child molestation, was in the online child sex game in 1996 . . . Law enforcement was not up to speed on internet crime back then . . . they're getting totally sidetracked. Do you think he did it, Singular?
Damn, Silverman just blabs and blabs. Singular says the cops (in the original investigation) told him to investigate the computer kiddie-porn angle himself if he wanted to--not good . . . . Saved By The Cross interpretation of S.B.T.C. has been out there for years . . . . We have not been shown the whole (of JonBenet's) body. There may be something there only a very few people know . . . On the other hand, the eejits never interviewed Karr's wife (as Caz pointed out in comments to the previous post). But wouldn't she, well her lawyer (Silverman asks), have been screaming to the high heavens if the cops were going the wrong way and smearing the father of her children--however much she hates him? Where's the proof?
Singular: Some among the people around JonBenet and the beauty pageant circuit did it. He's talked to pageant moms who told him that "unsavory characters," pedophiles in fact, gravitated naturally to that milieu, and that they "had to get rid of them." The Ramseys may or may not have been guilty, or only of exposing her to that world.
Silverman: Pedophiles roaming in a pack?
Singular: Whether Karr's guilty or not you're opening the door for the first time on the natural milieu of these criminals . . . The investigation in this realm has been completely driven by civilians. . . [man, I gotta get better at typing].
Caplis: What's your theory?
S: Let's theorize she was taken out of the house for say, a photo shoot, video event, etc. What I'd already seen on the internet was just a short step to really hurting a child.
So let's say this happened to JonBenet, and something went wrong. The crime scene that we have assumed to be the crime scene all along may not be the only crime scene. . . There is a natural criminal realm to investigate . . .
Caller: I was a pageant participant. It was wonderful. Not to say that it doesn't draw sickos . . .
S: Patsy was disturbed by some of the photos a Denver photog. took of JB (semi-naked, allegedly). For pity's sake, the same photographer took the pictures at Silverman's wedding. Denver's a small (cow) town.
S: The reason I wrote the book is that the Ramseys put their child in a place where she was exposed to these types of people.
Caller: After many years of therapy I got over being put on display that way . . . Thrown into a situation where I was expected to act much older than my age . . .
Good physical evidence for the intruder theory?
S: I don't think it's that strong. Many more possibilities that it's more complicated than just the Ramseys, or just an intruder. . .
Caplis at the end of the hour: Even if it was a brilliant move, isn't there something fundamentally wrong with wining and dining the little bugger [he didn't say bugger]?
Me: I don't like Singular's theory much. It smacks of the 80s-90s hysteria over stories of child-sacrificing cults, not a single one of which turned out to be true (though scores of people went to jail).
They've played that unfunny tape of "Karr" and "Lacy" on the plane three times in an hour.
Silverman finds a case that would seem to disqualify anything Karr said on the plane because the DA's cops got him intoxicated.
Bob Grant, "legendary" Adams County prosecutor and DU law professor: this wining and dining doesn't make any sense to me. Should at least have knocked the champagne glass out of his hand.
C: Do you think they've got the right guy?
BG: Ain't gonna say without the DNA!
Back and forth on the circumstances of Lacy moving when she did.
It's all if, if, if. DNA, DNA, DNA.
Break. I thought I might be able to do the whole three hours, but I can't. It's time to attend to other parts of my sad, suddenly monomaniacal life. I mean, my God, I can hardly picture the faces of my children anymore.
Update (via the Drunkawife): We have no children.
Monday JonBenet
The nerve of MSNBC, dumping JonBenet coverage for the prez's press conference.
Oh well. AP reports Karr is safely lodged in the Los Angeles County Jail. Tough guy quote from sheriff's spokesman somebody or other:
More info trickling out about Karr allegedly seeking a sex change operation in Bangkok. Now it appears he wasn't taking hormones, but merely had hair removal treatments. Whatever. The doctor who was originally reported by MSNBC to be treating Karr with hormones denied it, sort of, the Denver Post said:
Rita also says Karr's ex-wife is still going through records, looking for proof that Karr was home in Alabama over Christmas 1996. Like I say, slow reader.
Update: The two true-crime authors at Crimerant.com conduct a (surprisingly poorly written--hey guys, you're professional writers) back-and forth on JMK. Worth reading for M. William Phelps' utterly plausible alternative for the meaning of "S.B.T.C."
Oh well. AP reports Karr is safely lodged in the Los Angeles County Jail. Tough guy quote from sheriff's spokesman somebody or other:
"He is going to be housed here in the men's jail, kept in isolation in a 6-by-9 room with a bed, a toilet no windows and no phones," Whitmore said. "He'll get regular food. He'll get jail chow, he won't get king crab, I'll tell you that."It was king prawn, Mr. Whitmore.
More info trickling out about Karr allegedly seeking a sex change operation in Bangkok. Now it appears he wasn't taking hormones, but merely had hair removal treatments. Whatever. The doctor who was originally reported by MSNBC to be treating Karr with hormones denied it, sort of, the Denver Post said:
Dr. Thep Vechavisit, who performs sex-change surgery for $1,625, told The Post he doesn't remember Karr and wouldn't say whether he was a patient.
Vechavisit, whose storefront Pratunam Polyclinic sits in the middle of the Thai capital's garment district, said he had read the news reports that Karr was one of his patients and was seeking a sex change, but Vechavisit denied he told reporters that. . . ."Even if I found his record, I cannot tell you," Vechavisit said of Karr, citing doctor-patient confidentiality. "You will have to ask Mr. Karr." . . .
Vechavisit showed a newspaper advertisement that ran in an English-language paper that listed prices in U.S. dollars for his services. Breast-enlargement surgery was $1,125; liposuction was $625; a tummy tuck, $1,250; and the removal of testicles, $125.Only $125 for removal of my, I mean, one's, testicles? How does he do it? Volume!
Big gun
MSNBC has Rita Cosby in Boulder now. She says Karr claimed in an e-mail that his brother worked for the Ramseys, and that he, Karr, attended a Christmas Day party at the Ramseys' house. Unfortunately, the Christmas party happened several days before Christmas.Rita also says Karr's ex-wife is still going through records, looking for proof that Karr was home in Alabama over Christmas 1996. Like I say, slow reader.
Update: The two true-crime authors at Crimerant.com conduct a (surprisingly poorly written--hey guys, you're professional writers) back-and forth on JMK. Worth reading for M. William Phelps' utterly plausible alternative for the meaning of "S.B.T.C."
I found out something else last night. I did some searching for that acronym S.B.T.C. – seems that the most popular phrasing of it is not the end of that ransom note (not even close), like everyone has been insisting, but it more likely means: Saved By The Cross.
Of course, this has no bearing on whether Karr wrote both "S.B.T.C"'s. Was he religious in high school? After? I haven't seen anything about that, but being raised by his grandparents makes it at least plausible.
Update II: Here's Wikipedia's entry on Karr. The internets are truly amazing.
Update III: Jeralyn Merritt--who says Karr's extradition hearing will take place tomorrow, with Karr flying to Boulder that evening-- is saying the same ol' same ol' to Tucker "Dimbulb" Carlson. She's worried that the DA doesn't have a case. Who isn't?
She just said very confidently that investigators long ago dismissed the significance of S.B.T.C.--but she doesn't know why. She's extremely pissed at the media (always easy), which has been "very inaccurate." She lists all the crap speculation--most of it against the Ramseys. Merritt is clearly in the "intruder" camp--she just doesn't seem to think it was John Mark Karr.
Update IV: Freelance journalist Michael Sandrock once again tells the story of how Karr seemed to know Boulder when he talked to him in Paris. Still, he's beginning to doubt that Karr did it. Everybody's hedging.
Update V: Tucker just said that for all the media know, "S.B.T.C" could stand for "Stop beating the clowns," and that they should just shut up about it.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
I'll never fly coach again
Everybody's seen it, but for the record here's John Mark Karr's dinner menu on the flight home from Thailand:
A prominent criminal defense attorney says this wining and dining of Karr was a "brilliant move":
Update: The second Mrs. John Mark Karr must be a slow reader. Why else would it be taking so long for her to go through her "records and photographs" to confirm that JMK was home that Christmas? I could literally (literally!) have gone through every document in the Library of Congress by now, and I can barely read.
Update II (10:32 p.m. MDT): John Mark Karr has just landed at LAX! They're showing his plane live on MSNBC! It's taxiing!
Update III: Do you think John Mark Karr got a tour of the cockpit?
Update IV: Of course, that reminds me of the scene in Airplane where pilot Peter Graves asks the young boy getting a tour of the cockpit, "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?"
Karr started with a pate, then had a green salad with walnut dressing. The main course was fried king prawn with steamed rice and broccoli, followed by a slice of Valrhona chocolate cake for desert [sic]. Karr drank a beer, crushing the can with his hands [note the plural, guys--ed.] when it was empty, then moved on to a glass of French chardonnay with his main course.The Drunkawife and I flew business class once, and all it took was bad weather cancelling our flight to Spain. No little-girl murdering at all. At least, on my part.
A prominent criminal defense attorney says this wining and dining of Karr was a "brilliant move":
Denver attorney Larry Pozner, past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the royal treatment during Sunday's journey — king prawns, champagne, French wine — was ''a brilliant move.''I bet all those cops would be glad to show Karr the way.
''What the cops want most is this guy to talk. They say he is not under arrest. Then they do not put him in handcuffs on the plane. And they say he is over the age of 21, free to drink,'' Pozner said. ''He is therefore free to talk.''
If Karr says something incriminating that is challenged in court, Pozner said, the investigator who was sitting next to him simply says he was never in my custody.
''There is always a reason when the unusual happens,'' Pozner said. ''He is in nobody's custody. He is free to leave if he can find a way at 38,000 feet.''
Update: The second Mrs. John Mark Karr must be a slow reader. Why else would it be taking so long for her to go through her "records and photographs" to confirm that JMK was home that Christmas? I could literally (literally!) have gone through every document in the Library of Congress by now, and I can barely read.
Update II (10:32 p.m. MDT): John Mark Karr has just landed at LAX! They're showing his plane live on MSNBC! It's taxiing!
Update III: Do you think John Mark Karr got a tour of the cockpit?
Update IV: Of course, that reminds me of the scene in Airplane where pilot Peter Graves asks the young boy getting a tour of the cockpit, "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?"
Sunday JonBenet
Yes, Karr is on his way home. Champagne for everybody!
I was going to suggest a makeover for the "man," but this wouldn't be it.
Speaking of which, MSNBC is saying that Karr had been undergoing hormone treatments in preparation for a sex-change operation. Reminds me of "Buffalo Bill," the serial killer in Silence of the Lambs, who also thought he just wanted to be a girl.
Rocky editor John Temple notes how the frenzy over the case has increased, to say the least, the RMN's website traffic:
Update: Boulder freelance reporter Michael Sandrock, who talked about the "little smile" Karr gave when Sandrock mentioned how most people thought the Ramseys had murdered JonBenet, said on MSNBC this morning that he got the impression Karr had been to Boulder, saying he, Karr, had described the Boulder Daily Camera building and seemed to know local landmarks like Chatauqua Park. Everybody say "hmmmmm."
I was going to suggest a makeover for the "man," but this wouldn't be it.
Speaking of which, MSNBC is saying that Karr had been undergoing hormone treatments in preparation for a sex-change operation. Reminds me of "Buffalo Bill," the serial killer in Silence of the Lambs, who also thought he just wanted to be a girl.
Rocky editor John Temple notes how the frenzy over the case has increased, to say the least, the RMN's website traffic:
The main JonBenet story generated more traffic on Wednesday than our entire site usually does on a typical weekday. The top eight stories on the site were about this case.Yeah, but is the Rocky selling more of its print edition?
On Thursday traffic was even heavier. By the time most office workers on the East Coast headed home, we already had exceeded 1 million page views. More than 700,000 people visited RockyMountainNews.com on Thursday. On Friday, by 8:30 a.m. we already had had more traffic than the entire Friday the week before.
Update: Boulder freelance reporter Michael Sandrock, who talked about the "little smile" Karr gave when Sandrock mentioned how most people thought the Ramseys had murdered JonBenet, said on MSNBC this morning that he got the impression Karr had been to Boulder, saying he, Karr, had described the Boulder Daily Camera building and seemed to know local landmarks like Chatauqua Park. Everybody say "hmmmmm."
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Sat Eve Post 10-24-64
Goldwasser! Mit der flaggen flugeling in der vind! Heil! (No idea why I'm talkin' fake nazi about Goldwater, since he was nothing like one--probably a hangover from my salmon-diaper baby upbringing.)
All the cool kids were in the "Goldwater a go go club."
Goldwater was a hellacious photographer of the Southwest,
Enough G-water. Let's get to the astounding advances in technology.
Yeah, astounding.
Actually I just wanted to make fun of this dork:
My eye! My eye!: The incalculable power of the laser as it lights a flashbulb.
The obligatory ad:
(More old-timey magazine "fun" here, here, here, and if you're not catatonic yet, here.)
Update: even though the "Hurricane" link says its a "preview," the whole tune will play. It's pretty good Dylan.
Saturday JonBent, er, JonBenet
Hey, MSNBC finally gave Jeralyn Merritt a downtown Denver backdrop for her talking head spots. She says she still doesn't know if Karr is legit, so she's said essentially the same thing for three days now. Take back the backdrop!
M. William Phelps, a true-crime writer I'd never heard of before (sorry) who runs a site called Crimerant.com, left this comment in the previous JonBenet post:
JonBenet quote of the day: "The idea that John and Patsy Ramsey were involved in their 6-year-old daughter's death brought a 'little smile' from Karr [Boulder freelance journalist Michael] Sandrock said"--Rocky Mountain News.
Update: Return of the teddy bear.
M. William Phelps, a true-crime writer I'd never heard of before (sorry) who runs a site called Crimerant.com, left this comment in the previous JonBenet post:
The news coming out of Thailand today is mind-blowing. Karr has not backed down from his original statement and now says he got the $118,000 figure from John Ramsey’s checkbook while rummaging through the house that night. Those handwriting samples are strikingly similar–at least to me. The language seems to match up somewhat. Karr will be back tomorrow night in LA. When they formally charge him upon entering the US, there’s a good possibility they’ll release the affidavit accompanying the warrant. As a true crime author, those affidavits are terrifically detailed documents I study with wide eyes. Can’t wait for that thing to fly around the Internet like a virus. It’ll certainly answer a lot of questions. I don’t know … I’m leaning the other way now. Things might be adding up.Then again, maybe not. We’re working on a post now that offers some VERY interesting theories re: Patsy and Karr having known each other.I have no idea where Phelps gets his info or his theories, but--there you go.
JonBenet quote of the day: "The idea that John and Patsy Ramsey were involved in their 6-year-old daughter's death brought a 'little smile' from Karr [Boulder freelance journalist Michael] Sandrock said"--Rocky Mountain News.
Update: Return of the teddy bear.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Churchill's children
Pirate Ballerina, besides taking a small shot at the D-blog for his sudden JonBenet mania (and I'm still on my medication(s)!), introduces us to a "congregation of little churchills"--the graduate students of the Department of Ethnic Studies of the University of California at Berkeley. Gerardo Arrellano, for example, wants to investigate the "Criminalization of immigrant bodies," while Karina Cespedes is pursuing "Tourism and Sex-work Studies with a focus on Cuba/the Caribbean." Steven Lee is interested in Asian Studies, but also "(Race &) Masculinity Studies" and "(Race &) Feminist Theory."
Marci A. Chin will pursue "Women of color in U.S. prisons" (now that sounds okay, if you leave out all Marci's boring qualifications); Victor Rios wants to define "the field of Youth Culture Studies as a space where theory, method, and political praxis are generated to understand social constructions of poor, racialized, gendered urban Youth"; and Robert Soza wants to do "'Holocaust' Studies in the Americas" (yes, his quotes).
But don't forget: Ward Churchill is utterly unrepresentative of ethnic studies folks in general.
Marci A. Chin will pursue "Women of color in U.S. prisons" (now that sounds okay, if you leave out all Marci's boring qualifications); Victor Rios wants to define "the field of Youth Culture Studies as a space where theory, method, and political praxis are generated to understand social constructions of poor, racialized, gendered urban Youth"; and Robert Soza wants to do "'Holocaust' Studies in the Americas" (yes, his quotes).
But don't forget: Ward Churchill is utterly unrepresentative of ethnic studies folks in general.
Karr knew details
Just noticed the front page of the Denver Post: "CNN: Karr knew secrets in JonBenet case":
JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr gave authorities graphic details about the condition of the 6-year-old's body that have never been publicly revealed, a U.S. law enforcement source told CNN today.
Those details were known only to the medical examiner and the investigators investigating the December 26, 1996 slaying of the beauty pageant competitor, the law enforcement official
said . . . .
Some of the details Karr shared were gruesome - and accurate - the source said.
As cracks in the confession of Karr, combined with the Boulder prosecutor's unusual caution, fueled skepticism about the apparent break in the decade-old murder case, this report lends some credibility to his claims.Skepticism has been rampant the past 24 hours as Karr, detained Wednesday in Thailand, made some questionable claims to reporters in Bangkok while admitting to the 6-year-old's December 1996 slaying - a crime he called an "accident" when a kidnapping scheme went bad . . . .
Update: Strange the News doesn't have it. The Post's timestamp on the story says 4:05:06 MDT.
Update II: One of our tenants suggested I check out this episode of South Park, in which the Ramseys make a guest appearance (be sure to read the second quote in the "quotes" section).
Update III (11:56 p.m. MDT): More weirdness. The Post has a story titled "Karr may have sought kids on the Net" in its front-page list of stories, but clicking on it gets only, "The content item you have requested is no longer available."
Update IV: It's back now, updated, and it's, yes, bizarre.
Update V: MSNBC only now (8:06 a.m. MDT August 19) has the S.B.T.C.-yearbook story. Seems like that happened last year, doesn't it? They also say Karr is under suicide watch in Bangkok but will be flown back to the U.S. tomorrow--business class.
Evening Jon Benet; or, A Big Friday Night
7:06: John Mark Karr's ex-wife has said that he was always at home over Christmas. On Chip Scarborough now her lawyer seems to be hedging with phrases like "off the top of her head," and "she's going through records." He also said that her life with Karr was extremely awful.
Scarby also has Mark Klaas, Polly Klaas's father, and Jeralyn Merritt. He talked to Klaas about the "correspondence" between his child's murderer and Karr, apparently for Karr's supposed "book." When he found out about it, Klaas said, he told (somebody--sorry I didn't hear who) we don't want this guy (Karr) anywhere near us.
Lawyer or something Wendy Murphy: The "never-released information" Karr supposedly knew could easily have been leaked, perhaps by Lou Smit. (There's the first I've heard of him since the story broke.)
Patsy's sister: There might be similarities between some of his writing in the e-mails--very prolific, very effusive--and the ransom note. I'm not saying anything for sure. . . . I have faith in Mary Lacy. She would not have done this if she didn't have some key pieces . . . .
Scarborough: If they're wrong that would make them the Keystone Kops of the 21st Century. (Joe's so smart.)
Klaas: The first investigation sucked . . . Why didn't this investigation call his ex-wife beforehand?
Wendy: And no one made a single phone call to check if he was in the damn state of Colorado?
How does she know that?
Scarby also has Mark Klaas, Polly Klaas's father, and Jeralyn Merritt. He talked to Klaas about the "correspondence" between his child's murderer and Karr, apparently for Karr's supposed "book." When he found out about it, Klaas said, he told (somebody--sorry I didn't hear who) we don't want this guy (Karr) anywhere near us.
Lawyer or something Wendy Murphy: The "never-released information" Karr supposedly knew could easily have been leaked, perhaps by Lou Smit. (There's the first I've heard of him since the story broke.)
Patsy's sister: There might be similarities between some of his writing in the e-mails--very prolific, very effusive--and the ransom note. I'm not saying anything for sure. . . . I have faith in Mary Lacy. She would not have done this if she didn't have some key pieces . . . .
Scarborough: If they're wrong that would make them the Keystone Kops of the 21st Century. (Joe's so smart.)
Klaas: The first investigation sucked . . . Why didn't this investigation call his ex-wife beforehand?
Wendy: And no one made a single phone call to check if he was in the damn state of Colorado?
How does she know that?
Bizarre and Bizarre-er
The AP (VIA the Post) says condemned child-killer Richard Allen Davis's cell was searched for evidence in the Ramsey case:
Update II: AP via the Rocky: "No link in Klass killer's cell." Misspelling of "Klaas," sic.
Prison guards searched the death row cell of Polly Klaas' killer after learning he may have corresponded with the suspect in the decade-old slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, authorities said Friday.Update: AP just workin' like dogs to dig up the trash: "Karr targeted JonBenet look-a-like as sub teacher."
Guards at San Quentin State Prison searched Richard Allen Davis' cell Thursday, but would not immediately disclose what they found . . . .
Davis, 52, was sentenced to death for the 1993 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas. The girl was from Petaluma, where suspect John Mark Karr lived from 2000 to 2001, when Karr was charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography.
Update II: AP via the Rocky: "No link in Klass killer's cell." Misspelling of "Klaas," sic.
S.B.T.C.
The Boulder DA's office thinks it might have an explanation for the mysterious letters S.B.T.C. that appear at the end of the JonBenet ransom note, the RMN reports:
Update: Here's the yearbook page as shown on the front page of the Rocky right now:
Reaching? Who cares! What I want to know is, what's "multiple peace?"HAMILTON, Ala. - Boulder District attorney's officials are in contact with a former classmate of John Mark Karr because she has a yearbook signed by him more than 20 years ago that may reveal the answer to one of the great mysteries of the JonBenet Ramsey ransom note - what does "S.B.T.C" stand for?
In the yearbook, Karr signed the classmate’s page and ended his missive with the line, "Though, deep in the future, maybe I shall be the conqueror and live in multiple peace." The words "shall be the conqueror" do not appear anywhere as an acronym, but they are written in upper case characters.
Update: Here's the yearbook page as shown on the front page of the Rocky right now:
Chump change
Thought I'd seen every possible derisive reworking of Noam Chomsky's name: Chumpsky, Num Chumpsky, Chumps, Chimpsky, Nim Chimpsky, Chomps, C.H.O.M.P.S., Chompster--you get the idea. But it took one of those interminable Chumpster (!) interviews at Znet to find the
best--because inadvertent--name change:
Sorry, I didn't read the interview. But here's the Berger letter. The only two "major newspapers" that printed it, far as I could tell, were (drumroll, please): The Independent and the Grauniad!
This picture has nothing to do with the post above.
best--because inadvertent--name change:
Last week, a group of renowned intellectuals published an open letter blaming Israel for escalating the conflict in the Middle East. The letter, which mainly referred to the alignment of forces between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, caused a lot of anger among Ynet and Ynetnews readers, particularly due to its claim that the Israeli policy's political aim is to eliminate the Palestinian nation.Chomsly! Renowned intellectual Noam Chomsly. Always serve from the left, Chomsly! Empty my dribble cup, Chomsly!
The letter was formulated by art critic and author John Berger and among its signatories were Nobel Prize winner, playwright Harold Pinter, linguist and theoretician Noam Chomsly, Nobel Prize laureate José Saramago, Booker Prize laureate Arundhati Roy, American author Russell Banks, author and playwright Gore Vidal, and historian Howard Zinn.
Sorry, I didn't read the interview. But here's the Berger letter. The only two "major newspapers" that printed it, far as I could tell, were (drumroll, please): The Independent and the Grauniad!
JB!
Disheartening to realize that I've already seen the video of John Mark Karr confessing more times than I've seen that horrible video of Brangelina waving lights at the Muhammed Ali Center in Louisville. Can't find it at the moment, but you know the one I mean:
I think I'm going to be sick.
The News got hold of some of Karr's e-mails to CU professor Michael Tracey. Ultra-creepy:
I think I'm going to be sick.
The News got hold of some of Karr's e-mails to CU professor Michael Tracey. Ultra-creepy:
He asked Tracey to visit JonBenet Ramsey's old house in Boulder and read aloud an ode he called JonBenet, My Love.
"JonBenet, my love, my life. I love you and shall forever love you. I pray that you can hear my voice calling out to you from my darkness - this darkness that now separates us," it read, in part. . . .[Another e-mail reads] "I will tell you that I can understand people like Michael Jackson and feel sympathy when he suffers as he has. I do think that he is sexually attracted to certain children but could never divulge this. He made an attempt when he talked of sleeping with little boys but was completely misunderstood. I think he made an assertion and quickly had to back down. On the other hand, his comments might have had nothing to do with having the type of sex one might equate with the sense of the term, sex."
Uh-huh.
News again: Not real normal.
Post: Just a nice person.
Post: More on Tracey.
Haven't yet heard anybody use the phrase, "Don't try to grow a brain, John."
Oh man. From the Post via AP:
Update: That should read, "From AP via the Post."Authorities asked Patsy Ramsey in late May - a month before she died of cancer - whether she would be willing to meet with the man who claims he killed her 6-year-old daughter, the Ramsey family's attorney said Friday.
Ramsey said she would meet with John Mark Karr if it would advance the investigation into JonBenet Ramsey's Christmastime 1996 slaying, but the meeting never took place because authorities did not get back to her before she died in June, attorney Lin Wood said.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Last JB (today)
Now Dan Abrams has former Boulder deputy DA Trip DeMuth, Larry Posner and somebody named Dawna Kaufman from the National Enquirer. Like me they don't get it, don't like it, but have trouble believing the Boulder DA could be so incompetent.
Praise Jesus, MSNBC finally went to a years-old rerun of John Siegenthaler on The Iron Heart of Vengeful Justice and the Bloody Hands of Murdering Murderousness or whatever it's
called (crummy real-life crime show which MSNBC doesn't even mention on their own website).
Praise Jesus, MSNBC finally went to a years-old rerun of John Siegenthaler on The Iron Heart of Vengeful Justice and the Bloody Hands of Murdering Murderousness or whatever it's
called (crummy real-life crime show which MSNBC doesn't even mention on their own website).
Whew: More JonBenet!
Craig Silverman, Dan Caplis' radio partner on Denver's KHOW, whom Drunkablog readers will know from the Ward Churchill fracas, is on MSNBC. He doesn't have confidence in Boulder DA Lacy either, but he thinks Lacy must have unrevealed evidence or she's "putting her job in jeopardy." MSNBC anchor-skank: Is John Ramsey vindicated? Silverman: Noe-ba way-ba.
"Famed defense attorney" Mickey Sherman on MS, asked how he would defend Karr: First thing I'd do is make them sign over everything they owned for the rest of their lives . . . .
Anchor-skank: All two cents? (Sorry, I'll figure out her name. "Anchor-skank" is undignified.) John Ramsey and Ramsey attorney Lin Wood are taking the high road. What's her name holds up the Daily News, with a picture of JB and the 8000-point headline: "Solved!" Sherman (a New Yorker): New Yorkers are dumb (now that's a paraphrase).
Jeralyn Merritt back on from Denver: Case seems in such disarray that Lacy may be up against speedy trial limits . . . . Again, no drugs found in JonBenet. Merritt even sees problems with Karr's extradition. Thailand is deporting him; there may not be a formal custody hearing . . . . Anchorperson: Do you think they got the right guy? Merritt: I have no idea . . . .
Has Merritt taken back her assertion last night that DNA tied Karr to JonBenet? Has 9News? Me go look. Not Jeralyn. She's got maybe three later posts on the case, and then an open thread because she's too busy:
"Famed defense attorney" Mickey Sherman on MS, asked how he would defend Karr: First thing I'd do is make them sign over everything they owned for the rest of their lives . . . .
Anchor-skank: All two cents? (Sorry, I'll figure out her name. "Anchor-skank" is undignified.) John Ramsey and Ramsey attorney Lin Wood are taking the high road. What's her name holds up the Daily News, with a picture of JB and the 8000-point headline: "Solved!" Sherman (a New Yorker): New Yorkers are dumb (now that's a paraphrase).
Jeralyn Merritt back on from Denver: Case seems in such disarray that Lacy may be up against speedy trial limits . . . . Again, no drugs found in JonBenet. Merritt even sees problems with Karr's extradition. Thailand is deporting him; there may not be a formal custody hearing . . . . Anchorperson: Do you think they got the right guy? Merritt: I have no idea . . . .
Has Merritt taken back her assertion last night that DNA tied Karr to JonBenet? Has 9News? Me go look. Not Jeralyn. She's got maybe three later posts on the case, and then an open thread because she's too busy:
My schedule (all subject to change without notice, that's how it works and studio space is double-booked all over town today) : Tucker Carlson 4:30 ET, Catherine Crier (court tv) 5:30 pm, Paula Zahn, 8:00 ET, Hannity and Colmes, between 9 and 10 pm, MSNBC special with Dan Abrams, 10 to 11 pm.
Odd, that's the D-blog's schedule too, except in reverse!
Oh God. Time for Caplis and Silverman.
Silverman: Karr looked like he belonged in a mental institution. If there were ever a false confesser . . . But if the DNA matches . . . .
More dissing of Michael Tracey, the CU professor who exchanged hundreds of e-mails with Karr . . . .
Caplis: You have to be suspicious of these communications . . . . Did Tracey provide him with inside information? Is that anything bad like obstruction of justice . . . . I'm not accusing him of anything . . . .
Caplis: Karr looked like a drugged Lee Harvey Oswald . . . . Could he be saying what he is just to get out of Thailand? [Caplis is an idiot.]
Bumper music: One Night in Bangkok. Tasteful. Caplis also has his belittling name for DA Lacy's press conference: The Awards Show. "I thought you waited till the end of the movie before you had the awards show."
9News "legal analyst" Scott Robinson ain't convinced either.
Chris Matthews just now on Hardball: "There's something about this guy [Karr] that reminds me of Tony Perkins in Psycho."
Craigie had to leave to "do O'Reilly." Yurk.
Rocky: Wack-job or murderer?
Caplis again: Mary Lacy is politically motivated . . . We've seen that from the CU football case [I still don't how she aroused Caplis' ire in that case].
Wack-jobs galore on the RMN JonBenet thread.
It do seem like the Post is lagging behind the Rocky on the story. And everybody's lagging behind MSNBC, which is not a compliment to MSNBC.
Has Henry "Something wrong" Lee ever just walked by a microphone? Caplis and Silverman are going to interview him. I think there's an old Mr. Microphone around here somewhere. I'll see if I can't get a few words with the renowned doctor.
Now C & S are arguing over which of them came up with the "drugged Lee Harvey Oswald" line. What a couple of freaks.
Why Caplis hates Lacy: He says she called CU football players guilty of rape while declining to charge them. Still can't find anything about it, but maybe she's in Channel 9's archive somewhere.
The Post has a piece on the skeptics now.
Greta Van Susteren on C & S: I don't think they've got the right guy. The press conference was an embarrassment. Boulder has a police department that doesn't know what it's doing. . . .
I'd forgotten C & S's nearly infinite ability to say the same thing over and over.
Caplis: Why didn't Lacy have Sonoma County, California, where Karr was already wanted on kiddie-porn charges, extradite him? Silverman: Instead she put herself out on a limb. Why unless they had solid evidence? Caplis: Maybe she holds the ace. I hope she does [yeah, suuurrre you do, Dan].
Peter Boyles on C & S now. Three li'l skeptics, all in a row.
Hey, where's Lou Smit, the cop who resigned? Haven't seen hide nor hair of him.
Here's something nobody else has mentioned: In her press conference Mary Lacy used the word "poignant" and pronounced it with a hard "g."
Caplis reads an e-mail: What's with all the anti-Lacy verbiage? You sound like Lacy dumped you back in college. Caplis goes through the football rape case. Silverman: Did you ever ask her for a date? Hold hands with her in court? Caplis: No (paraphrase).
Caplis calls a news conference a "presser."
At least the Drunkablog's JonBenet posts are better than Wretchard's pathetic silence over at the Belmont Club. He doesn't have a thing! He's still maundering on about Solzehnitsyn! Solzhenitsyn! I spell his name two different ways to demonstrate my contempt!
MSNBC's Chuck or Joe or Bob Scarborough has a body language expert talking about Karr--
He's shifty. He's nervous. He's remembering something terrible. Shoulders hunched. No confidence.
Jeez, penetrating.
Chuck or Bob or Joe segment title: "Did Boulder blow it again?"
Whoa, a psychic's drawing of a JonBenet suspect from back in '98 is not horribly far off. She even got Karr's eyes with their staring look like those creepy paintings of big-eyed children.
I do not believe in psychics.
Henry Lee (sic) and Denver criminal attorney Larry Posner with Dan Abrams on MSNBC. Nobody believes Karr anymore, but I still have trouble believing that the Boulder DA's office could be that inept (again). Guess we'll see.
Time for a new post.
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